My original post is simply trying to understand *what* makes one of these forums systems better than another (pro/cons).

I’ve said this many times before: It all depends on your needs in a forum.

I’m not trying to avoid the subject, I just think it’s SO subjective that there is no answer. _ck_’s needs are different from mine, mine are different from yours. We may all have some things in common, but not all. Make a list of what’s important to you and then go find a forum that fits the bill. There is no one answer that forum A is better than B and they’re both better than C but worse than D except if you want to do foo and bar … You see how that gets weird?

I didn’t like Vanilla when I tested it, and I certainly didn’t find it easy to integrate with WordPress. In fact, their Single Sign On page says it’s still in Beta.

Also most apps talk like their competitors don’t exist not to be mean, but because it quickly turns into bashing and no one likes that. The beauty of open-source is that anyone can do anything with everything

I only used Vanilla for a couple hours. I have a knee-jerk reaction to most code and if I don’t enjoy using it right away, or have issues setting it up/themeing it how I want, it gets dumped.

And I’m not comfortable telling you strengths and weaknesses because they’re subjective. Seriously, I say it a lot but it’s true.

Me? I don’t like PMs and reporting posts, membership ‘levels’ and all that hoopla. So for me, bbPress is great because it’s small, simple and I can write plugins for it since I’m familiar with WordPress. But see how subjective that is? You may want those things and see it as a weakness that bbPress doesn’t have them.

Knowing what each products strengths and weakness will help determine if it fits needs.

I think you’re doing it backwards. Start with a list of your needs and your wants. Then go ask each place ‘Can you do this and if so, how hard is it?’